 "<b>Newsmaker:</b> Kapil Sibal")
He likes fine arts, writes poetry and is a music aficionado. But he doesn't shy away from butting heads as well. Meet Kapil Sibal, India's new law minister.
Sibal has been a lawyer for more than 40 years now and still remembers the day he fought-and lost-his first case. He got his first brief from a politician in Haryana. The politician had contested the election and had won it, switching sides after winning-but the election was set aside on eight counts. One of them was that he had bribed one of the candidates into withdrawing from the contest.
A few weeks earlier, Justice J Bhagwati had passed an order that if a bribe was offered by one candidate to another then the election would be held null and void. Sibal was asked why the petition should even be heard. He replied that the judgement was wrong, and argued that his client may have offered a bribe but not as a candidate -one becomes a candidate only after one's nomination is found valid.
Between then and now, Sibal has represented many politicians: J Jayalalithaa (in the coal import case), K Karunakaran, Bhajan Lal and Lalu Prasad, to name a few. It was because of Prasad that Sibal became a Rajya Sabha MP in the 1990s in return for fighting his case in the fodder scam. Additional Solicitor General of India between December 1989 and 1990, Sibal defended Supreme Court judge V Ramaswamy during his impeachment in Parliament.
His performance caught the eye of then Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao who offered him the South Delhi seat in the 1996 Lok Sabha elections. Sibal lost by a margin of over 100,000 votes. But he had tasted blood and decided to contest the Lok Sabha elections from Chandni Chowk, Delhi, and won.
Sibal is broadly left of centre, and is in the Congress because he believes all Indians must contest the Hindu nation theory. He feels the law is inevitably one step behind change-and to that extent is a status quoist. But he himself detests status quo.
When he came to the law ministry, it was with some reluctance. Having made powerful enemies during his legal career, he knew he and his sons, also lawyers, would be fair game for rivals. The baiting has already started, with critics alleging a conflict of interest.
Within days of taking over as law minister, he has cleared the proposal to settle the Vodafone tax issue case through reconciliation. Vodafone was faced with over Rs 20,000 crore in tax, interest and penalty on its purchase of Hutchison Whampoa's stake in its Indian telecom business Hutchison Essar in 2007.
His contention is that the Vodafone case was sending out wrong signals to investors. Many say the go-ahead for out-of-court settlement has been to promote his son Amit Sibal's career who represents Hutchison Telecom International. Sibal has denied this.
In the next few weeks, he is determined to shake up the legal administration. His is arguably the third most important job in government today.
Sibal has been a lawyer for more than 40 years now and still remembers the day he fought-and lost-his first case. He got his first brief from a politician in Haryana. The politician had contested the election and had won it, switching sides after winning-but the election was set aside on eight counts. One of them was that he had bribed one of the candidates into withdrawing from the contest.
A few weeks earlier, Justice J Bhagwati had passed an order that if a bribe was offered by one candidate to another then the election would be held null and void. Sibal was asked why the petition should even be heard. He replied that the judgement was wrong, and argued that his client may have offered a bribe but not as a candidate -one becomes a candidate only after one's nomination is found valid.
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The Supreme Court heard the case for 20 days. Sibal lost the case. Later, he figured out why: one of the judges was retiring after hearing the case and while the other two (it was a three-judge bench) disagreed with his opinion, they did not want to oppose him in his last case. Today, Sibal's client is a lawyer. And Sibal is a politician.
Between then and now, Sibal has represented many politicians: J Jayalalithaa (in the coal import case), K Karunakaran, Bhajan Lal and Lalu Prasad, to name a few. It was because of Prasad that Sibal became a Rajya Sabha MP in the 1990s in return for fighting his case in the fodder scam. Additional Solicitor General of India between December 1989 and 1990, Sibal defended Supreme Court judge V Ramaswamy during his impeachment in Parliament.
His performance caught the eye of then Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao who offered him the South Delhi seat in the 1996 Lok Sabha elections. Sibal lost by a margin of over 100,000 votes. But he had tasted blood and decided to contest the Lok Sabha elections from Chandni Chowk, Delhi, and won.
Sibal is broadly left of centre, and is in the Congress because he believes all Indians must contest the Hindu nation theory. He feels the law is inevitably one step behind change-and to that extent is a status quoist. But he himself detests status quo.
When he came to the law ministry, it was with some reluctance. Having made powerful enemies during his legal career, he knew he and his sons, also lawyers, would be fair game for rivals. The baiting has already started, with critics alleging a conflict of interest.
Within days of taking over as law minister, he has cleared the proposal to settle the Vodafone tax issue case through reconciliation. Vodafone was faced with over Rs 20,000 crore in tax, interest and penalty on its purchase of Hutchison Whampoa's stake in its Indian telecom business Hutchison Essar in 2007.
His contention is that the Vodafone case was sending out wrong signals to investors. Many say the go-ahead for out-of-court settlement has been to promote his son Amit Sibal's career who represents Hutchison Telecom International. Sibal has denied this.
In the next few weeks, he is determined to shake up the legal administration. His is arguably the third most important job in government today.